All very depressing reading. Some depressingly familiar.
Like Arfur Dent, one point stood out for me.
That a pilot of his experience and background was prepared to fly displays in the Hunter without EVER having practiced the escape or ‘bail out’ maneouvre - rolling out of the loop and recovering from the ensuing dive – astonished me. I would have wanted to try that out a few times and ensured I knew the minima and limits on that.
OK, partly because many years ago I scared myself by continuing a pullthrough to eye-wateringly low level instead of rolling out (in a much simper aircraft of course!), because I wasn’t adequately competent at what I was doing, but also because I’d view it as a ‘get-out-of-jail’ card for the day when I’m not flying as accurately as I’d like. (Which of course never happens...)
That lack seems very surprising; I'd have thought normal personal survival thinking as well as very basic flying safety would have ensured that the escape option was at least practiced and its limits known. Over confidence, or blinkered thinking perhaps? After all, practice in that sort of machine must have been expensive.
Or am I being too simplistic? Any thoughts folks?